Gullit, who was named in the PFA team of the year in 1996 as a player and won the FA Cup as manager of Chelsea in 1997, says the Blues lack of support for the manager - whoever he may be - is a "never ending story".

He told SunSport: "Hearing all these rumours all the time and nobody at the club ever says 'no that's not true', there must be something.

"If I was Conte I would already be looking around, if there's an alternative I would be interested. Nobody at the club is saying it's not true.

"Obviously that's not a guarantee [of him staying], they may say 'we trust him' - although that's even worse!"

MARC MY WORDS

Gullit says that the lack of backing for Conte has seen him lose his control of the squad.

The former AC Milan star added: "If there's a confrontation with the coach and it hasn't been ended by the board, the players think 'ah [we can say what we want]', especially the players that don't play.

"All of a sudden your authority is gone. It happens because nobody at the club is saying it's not true.

WOODY SPINNING WEB

SOL SEARCHING

"If they were to say 'we love Conte, we're going to stick with him', nobody could say that.

"But what's happened with all the previous coaches is that no one (at the club) says that.

"All the players, especially those that don't play, think 'he won't be here next year, let's wait for a new one', where they will get a better chance and will play. For a coach it's the worst thing that can happen."